Cost Of Alzheimers And Impact To Medicare

Annual Medicare costs are expected to soar more than 600 percent

, from $88 billion today to $627 billion by 2050. And the reason why is that almost half of all Alzheimers patients will be in the severe stage of the disease by then. That means intensive and expensive care. All this is according to a new report entitled Changing the Trajectory of Alzheimers Disease: A National Imperative.

There are a lot of aging baby boomers, notes Alan Weinstock, an insurance broker at www.MedicareSupplementPlans.com. That places a large number of older Americans at risk for the disease. Alan is right, according to the report from the Alzheimers Association. But its not just baby boomers that may be affected. The number of Americans who are 65 or older with Alzheimers disease is expected to more than double in the next 40 years. The cost of caring for them between now and 2050 could exceed $20 trillion.

Understanding the Impact of Alzheimers Disease

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia among older people and can seriously affect someones ability to carry out daily activities.

It generally begins slowly usually affecting the parts of the brain that control thought, memory and language. You may notice someone forgetting a name or event. Next, they may not recognize family members or they may have trouble speaking, reading or writing. As the disease progresses the affected person may forget routine things such as how to brush their teeth or comb their hair. Eventually, you may note anxiousness or aggression in an affected person.

Some important things to keep in mind about Alzheimers:

It usually begins after age 60.

The risk increases with age and family history.

There is no treatment to stop the disease.

There are some drugs that may help keep symptoms from getting worse for a limited time.

What the Future Holds for Alzheimers Patients

There are approximately 5.1 million Alzheimer patients in American today. However, the expectation is that this number will climb to 13.5 million by 2050. That will increase the cost from $172 billion to over $1 trillion.

However, the report held some good news as well. While treatment breakthroughs arent likely to prevent or cure the disease, there is an expectation that modest improvements can be made. Even a treatment that postpones the onset by five years and shows an effect by 2015 could reduce the number of seniors affected from 5.6 million to 4 million by 2010.

This is great news, says Alan because fewer people will be affected and the savings to Medicare could be substantial. In fact, the prediction is that annual Medicare savings would be around $33 billion in 2020 and $283 billion by 2050.

by: Dallas

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